Startup Pertino Preps Virtual Networking Tech For SMBs

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Pertino, a startup developer of software-defined networking (SDN) technology, is in the process of getting ready to give small businesses the ability to build their own business networks in the cloud.

Pertino is building software-defined networking technology that will allow an IT administrator or a non-IT person in a company to set up a global network in minutes from anywhere they can connect to the internet, said Todd Krautkremer, vice president of marketing for the Los Gatos, Calif.-based company.

"Internet connectivity is nearly ubiquitous from everywhere via such technologies as broadband, 4G, or Wi-Fi," Krautkremer said. "The problem with physical connectivity is solved. Now the issue is to connect it all logically. That's what we do."

Almost all the IT components for building a business -- the applications, computing resources and storage -- are in the cloud and deliverable as a service. However, the missing piece is the business network, which Krautkremer said has not fundamentally changed in a decade.

"It does not make sense to have all of your workers mobile and your IT assets in the cloud and then have the network that securely connects them all be anchored to some physical office somewhere," he said. "Pertino is putting the network in the cloud."

Pertino is targeting SMBs with 10 to 250 users, including people who are on the road or working remotely and who are using cloud-based applications and storage. "We put the network on the cloud so users can be on their business network as if they were sitting in the office," he said. "It's secure, elastic and built as a service."

Many companies sit in what Krautkremer called a "partly cloudy" world.

"Part of their business is in the cloud, like their Exchange data, and part is in on-site legacy apps, like MPR [manufacturing resource planning]," he said. "For these customers, who make up the majority of SMBs today, a cloud-based network can seamlessly bridge both worlds and aid in migrating between them while providing unified access, visibility, and control."